The long-running trade mark dispute between Gucci and Guess, principally concerning trade mark rights in the letter “G”, has finally come to an end – after nine years! The Guess shoe is clearly very similar Gucci’s well-known green, red and green striped shoe, with a configuration of interlocking G’s creating a diamond effect. A close…

Don’t panic if GDPR compliance is still on your agenda. Although the 25th May 2018 was the official deadline by which all businesses must comply with the GDPR, it would be unrealistic for the UK regulator (Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)) to expect all businesses operating in the UK to be fully compliant by that date.…

A growing and very welcome trend is to respond to the threat of legal action with humour and combine that with fast remedial action to put everything right. The latest example I spotted concerned a potential dispute between a certain rail firm and two brands of chocolate. I am not a regular rail commuter but…

(IMAGE: AFP – GETTY) “A unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough” Nope, not a wine or a cheese. This is the unique smell of Play-Doh … At least according to Hasbro. And the US…

Recently H&M launched an advertising campaign which displayed the work of street artist Jason ‘Revok’ Williams in the background. Revok sent a cease and desist letter claiming copyright infringement, as it was an “unauthorised use of his original artwork”. He did not want people to assume an affiliation between him and the high street brand. H&M…

The Irish band The Script has launched a copyright infringement claim in the US against the 2012 X Factor winner – James Arthur. This case is the next in a recent wave of US copyright infringement cases where popular artists have been accused of going too far in taking inspiration from previous artists work. The…

Trade marks are a key staple in the toolkit companies have to protect the goodwill in their business – all too often we are advising clients in circumstances where there is a contentious element (i.e. someone is infringing their brand) but there are other, equally important reasons, you should consider securing a trade mark registration.…

Intercontinental Great Brands LLC (formerly known as Kraft Foods Holdings) (IGB) is the manufacturer of the popular “Ritz” crackers and the owner of the Ritz trade mark portfolio. Earlier this month, IGB commenced court proceedings in China against two companies, Dongguan Changshunli Food Limited Company and Jiezhou Food Limited Company (Defendants), alleging infringement of the…

Love them or hate them contracts are a vital tool for any business. In spite of this, a huge amount of the commercial disputes which we deal with on a daily basis start with a client coming to us with no written agreement to rely on. In situations such as this we’re instantly on the…

A raunchy comedy puppet plot called ‘The Happytime Murders’ is everything you would not expect to see from Sesame Workshops, the company behind Sesame Street. Gone is the mission to teach children to read. Instead the film follows two Los Angeles detectives Melissa McCarthy and puppet Phil Phillips as they work together to solve the…

The last thing you probably need when you are supposed to be revising for your A Levels or School Leavers certificate is to get embroiled in a legal dispute. Unfortunately for Eli Hewson, son of the legendary Bono has done just that in a row over the name of his Dublin based group called Inhaler.…

Supermarkets copying a successful original brand is not a new problem. Far from it. Research by Witch Magazine reveals that one in five shoppers had accidentally bought a supermarket version of their favourite brand while a investigation by the Consumer Group found that more than 150 supermarket own label products had “borrowed” elements from the…